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tv   World Business Today  CNN  March 30, 2011 4:00am-5:00am EDT

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>> i can swipe your card right here. it goes through and then you just sign with your finger. that's it. >> i sign, processed, done. and anyone can do snit >> anyone and anyone can do snit >> anyone can do it. >> you're going to make another billion, aren't you? you sicken me, the pair of you. guys, thank you very much. hi, i'm zain verjee in london. here are the headline this is hour. syrian's president makes an address to the nation in about an hour. cnn will carry it live. he's expected to appoint a new government amid a wave of unrest. pro government demonstrations were held in several syrian cities tuesday. in libya, option forces are sufferi ining as gadhafi outfle
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them. retreating rebels were forced from benjawahd and regrouped. japan working to keep reactors cool and try to prevent radioactive water from leaking to the ocean. tons of water to keep fuel from overheating have been contaminated with radiation. workers are using sandbags and concrete panels to hold back the water. pakistan's cricket team have been practicing for a game for which their world cup, standing, and national pride are at stake. on wednesday, pakistan plays india. a big match helping to soothe often bitter relations. thousands of people are expected to skip work to watch the game. i'm zain verjee in london. "world business today" starts
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now. good morning from cnn london. >> and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm pauline chu. this is kporld business today. the top stories on this wednesday, march 30, tepco's troubles keep mounting up. now the company's president has been hospitalized, apparently suffering from stress. >> high fuel prices and natural disasters clip qantas' wings. how the australian airline is cutting back. >> and businesses in india and pakistan are bowled over by the cricket world cup. so, wout further adieu, take you to how the stocks are trading in europe. one hour to the trading session. here's how the numbers stack up presently. after a couple of days, some of the european markets gaining ground. we have the likes of the dax all in excess of 1%. when it comes to the london ftse
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100, that market up .6%. the mining companies such as for instance, bhp billiton. in the meantime, the euro is falling against the u.s. dollar, currently trading at 1.407 6. but on the other hand, the dollar is gaining against the british pound and the japanese yen. when it comes to the yen, that's trading at 83.02. and the pound trading at 1.6025. pauline? the weaker yen gave exporters a big boost in the tokyo trading this session. the nikkei reversed several days of losses to become the region's top performer on this wednesday. but tokyo electric power's shares continue to take a beating. they close down 18% for a third straight day. now they're down more than 71% for the year. around the rest of the region, mining and metals companies lift
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australia's benchmark. bhp billiton and rio tinto gained 2% by the close. and property stocks were the winners after reports. hutchinson alcoa was the best performer up nearly 4%. the nuclear crisis is taking a toll on the company's president. he's hospitalized suffering from fatigue and stress. meantime, the chief executive of tokyo electric power has apologized for the wide range of damage caused by the fukushima daiichi power plant. the navy reports radioactive iodine in the ocean near the plant has increased to the highest level yet -- more than 3,000 times it legal limit. tepco has faced mounting criticism of the handling of the nuclear disaster which began on march 11 when the tsunami
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knocked out cooling system generators. tepco's president has rarely been seen in public. the last time we saw him was at a press conference march 15. tepco says he's been ill but in control of a company from another tepco office. critics have accused tepco of being too slow to ask for help and calling ofrn french and american expertise. it's facing repeated accusations that it's hiding or downplaying information about this crisis. japan's prime minister lost patience on tuesday yelling, quote, what the hell is going on? well the nuclear crisis is now in its 20th day. the failure to stabilize the plant and reports of increasing radiation leaks are creating more concern by the day for the japanese public. inside the plant, workers are facing not only the nuclear dangers, but also harsh living conditions and their own personal fears.
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cnn's martin savidge joins us live from the tokyo bureau with more on the disaster. let's talk about the several hundred workers that are still there at the plant. what is it like for them day in and day out? sounds like they have a spartan existence given the jobs they have to do. meals are 30 saltine crackers with vegetable juice and after that, the meal tonight sounds like an mre or preprepared or coming out of a can. they sleep on mats, they work three days on, they get one day off. a grim-sounding environment. they're crawling through debris, they're working in dark, crowded kind of conditions, often facing high levels of radiation.
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it was surprising of how these grim reports of how they're living come out. they're heros. they're trying to stave off a nuclear calamity and they have little support. tepco says they are changing things. they are going to improve living conditions and things will get better. quite a shock to read the accounts. >> especially since the public considers them the heroes right now. tepco does not have a good track record of being clear of the information it releases. how often are you in touch with them? how difficult is it to get information? >> extremely difficult. we're in touch by the telephone, attend the news conferences, and like other journalists, listen to the wire reports and news reports that come out. but i have to tell you, there appears to be a disconnect between the public affairs people who we talk directly with. and the decision makers and
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those who are up there at the facility who are carrying out the orders. many times you ask a question and the answer is simply, they don't know. and you get the sense that they honestly don't know. not that they're covering something up, but that information is not laid down to the public apairs people. so it's extremely difficult to get concise, specific answers when you ask questions. talk about the water solution. they're trying to drain the water, highly reactive waters, one, two, three. we want to get the water out of the turbine areas and places like that because they need to get the employees in there to hook up and get those important pumps back on-line. good news, they're starting to drain the water. going to take four to five days. the level of the contamination with the sea is doubled. three times legal revels in the ocean immediately off the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. >> that number so alarming.
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mar tifrn sal martin savidge with the latest information. thank you, martin. nina, back to you in london. a heavy costs. swiss insurers said 2010 saw a huge spike in damages from human and natural disasters. economic losses from disasters last year totalled no less than $218 billion, that's more than three times greater than in 2009. $48 billion of the damage was insured. the largest came from the chile earthquake, that was $8 billion. the bp gulf of mexico oil spill cost about $1 billion, you can see on the chart behind me. but this year's total will certainly eclipse even last year's spike. already new zealand earthquake damages are estimated to be around $6 billion to $12 billion
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alone. and the earthquake and subsequent tsunami could total $300 billion here. experts blame growing populations, increasing wealth, and the growth of cities for estimating some of the specific costs related to natural disasters. lloyd's of london reported 43% lower forecast profits due largely to the exposure to last yore's natural disasters. this year is shaping up badly indeed in terms of expense and losses. so the question is, how is the insurance industry coping with all of this? let's go to lord peter lavine, the chairman of lloyd's of london and ask that question of him. good to see you on the show. let's talk about your exposure to the situation in japan? is it going to affect your earnings and how much? >> the natural disaster, that's what we're in business for is to
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meet the cost of it, is going to cost us money. that's why we're there. are we exposed in japan? yes. is it outside of the normal parameters of our business? no. it's within the parameters. we don't know the forecast yet. but we do a lot of modelling in advance. we have a lot of areas to look at these things. and you mustn't forget despite the entire human cost, this earthquake wasn't centered on the capital city of tokyo, it was well out of there. had it been, it would have been more expensive. we can't tell exactly what it will be now. but we don't believe it will be anything other than, as i said in the normal course of business. >> the cost range is between $10 billion and $34 billion for reinsurers. you made the point that not everyone has tsunami and earthquake insurance in japan. it's not necessarily the economic center. are you modelling something
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going forward? a difficult year in the year before in the natural disasters like chile and new zealand. >> you had another crisis in new zealand this year which we model constantly. because there has been a natural disaster in one country in one year doesn't mean there won't be another one in another country in the same year. we have to look at them all at the same time. what happened in new zealand was a big event last year. it was a further big event this year. what has happened in japan is another big event this year. but we weren't able to at least exon vince ourselves we would bbt in business. in japan, a lot of the costs in particular is covered by the government. where we cover it, as i say, within the normal course of business. that's why we're there. are we going to make as much money this year as we did last year? i'm sure we won't.
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but that's the way our business runs. >> let's talk about how much money you made last year. give us a breakdown of your earnings statement. >> we made something over 2 billion pounds last year which is not more than we made in the previous year. if you look on the other hand, it's ten year of lloyd's results. it's one of the better ones. ed the problem is you can't make forecasts because we are there to pay for the unexpected. everything is unexpected until it happens. and if you start talking about wind storms in the north atlantic which is a big issue for lloyd's, last year, there were none that cause nid significant damage. and what is going to happen this year? well, we can tell you precisely on the 31st of december, 2011. >> joining us there. that's peter lavine, the
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chairman of lloyd's of london. pauline. what can we expect on wall street? u.s. investors shrugged ongoing global concerns on tuesday's trading. they're near the intra day highs. here's how the numbers settled out. the dow and the broader s&p index both climbed around .7% there. and the nasdaq added close to 1%. and u.s. markets still set for a higher open when trading begins later on today on wednesday. this is where the u.s. futures stand in premarket action. the dow up by .3%. the nasdaq composite up by .5%. and the s&p 500 up by a dhird of 1%. >> nina? high oil prices are taking a toll on the airlines. how qantas is doing and how it will affect you. that's up next on "world business today."
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right now, nymex crude is down about four cents to nearly $105 a barrel in electronic trading. the prices jumped 14.5% since the start of this very year. welcome back to world business today. well, despite the higher oil prices stemming from uncertainty in the arab world, a top airline executive says he's realistically optimistic. international airlines group willie walsh says generally speaking the economic environment to his industry is much more positive than it's been for quite sometime. >> clearly the industry is it going to be challenged by the high price of oil. the geo political risk is adding about $15 to the price of a barrel of oil. but, you know, the general environment is not too bad. and i'm optimistic about the outlook for 2011.
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so long as the high oil price doesn't start having a dampening effect on the economic recovery, we should see 2011 being an improvement on 2010. >> so, better times may be around the corner for the global airline industry, at least according to willie walsh. >> okay, see if he's right. meanwhile, higher oil prices mean high fuel costs. that's making it difficult for some airlines to stay profitable. australian carrier, qantas, is one airlines that's come out with the new cost cutting measures. the airline ceo, alan joyce says the significant and sustained increase in the price of fuel is the most serious challenge that qantas has faced since the global financial crisis. he says that the airline's fuel costs are expected to total $2 billion for the second half of the fiscal year that ends in
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june. high fuel prices aren't the only thing cutting to the carrier's bottom line. qantas said profits have been hit by several events in the last year. you might remember this one, rolls royce engine failure in qantas' a-380 jumbo jet is expected to cost $25 million in the second half. there's the national disasters, the queensland floods and the earthquake and tsunami in japan. these will cost qantas a total of $140 million mainly because passengers don't want to fly to these areas. in response, the airline is making sweeping cuts and that means trimming domestic and international capacity, adding fuel surcharges, cutting management head count, and flying fewer routes to disaster-affected areas like christ church and ja papan. they may be adding baggage charges as well. all of the issues having repercussions for qantas
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airlines for now. >> and, of course, all of the issues in the arab world having repercussions in the oil price saying that has repercussions on the airlines as well. developments in places like libya and syria. we'll have the latest straight ahead on the show. a decisive moment seems to be awaiting the syrian president in the next hour. more on that when world business today returns after this break.
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welcome back, you're watching "world business today" li live on cnn. >> the united states is ready to open talks with muammar gadhafi's main opponents. the officials have been telling cnn that president barack obama will send a liaison officer to benghazi for a direct talk with the leaders. they're considering arming
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colonel gadhafi's opposition. >> all right. >> the rebels are facing new setbacks pro gadhafi forces have pushed them back from an area near bin-jawad. the rebels are holding the yellow shaded areas but there are still separatic battles. heavy fighting has not let up in the city of misrata. >> washar al assad is going to address his nation amid growing national unrest. he's trying to reassure his people and they'll bring the speech to you live here on cnn when it happens. as the awakening spreads to syria, there are indications
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that u.s. companies are helping to censor the growing crisis in the middle east and south africa. mary snow uses technology being used by the governments in that region. >> social media sites have fanned the flames in revolutions like egypt as companies crack down by shutting off the internet. now a new report finds that technology made in the u.s. and canada is helping regimes in some countries in the northeast and africa to limit on-line access. work in research in harvard and the university of toronto found nine censors. >> it makes it easy for them to block media websites. we have seen a few places in filtering. >> yemen, qatar, and the united arab emrates use net sweeper. a spokesman for net sweeper told
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us the company isn't commenting at this time. yemen is using technology made by san diego's web sense as late as august but since been disabled despite the company policy against government-imposed censorship. the company told us that the policy is strict and web sense has disabled the product where we learned of customer use where it's contrary to the policy. countries like bahrain and saudi arabia are using smart filter made by mcafee. the company can't disclose customer names. while western technology may be aiding censorship, the u.s. government is paying nonprofits to invade censors. >> right now anyone looking at this looks like it's coming from the netherlands. that's the point because i'm in america. >> his mission is to remain anonymous on-line. using translators, they trained activists in the northeast and
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africa. >> we told people how to use the software and think about what you do when you go on-line. >> "the net delusion -- the dark side of internet freedom" says the effort to combat censorship in the middle east is being undermined by american technologies. >> it's a tragedy. it those be resolved. there needs to be more pressure exerted by the department on american companies who engage in such activities. >> he wants to see laws banning companies from providing technologies for government censorship. to date, state department says it spent $20 million on what it calls the internet freedom programming in the middle east and plans to spend $33 million more. mary snowe, cnn, new york. workers are struggling to stop a meltdown at japan's fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. but off of the coast, texts have
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revealed radioactive iodine levels 3,000 times higher than normal. coming up on "world business today," we'll ask a question of whether nuclear power is worth the risk. well-being. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] introducing purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists... it's clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act
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from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> i'm pauline chu from hong kong. welcome back to "world business today". look at how they're faring at the moment. one hour and 30 minutes to the trading session. you can see, things are faring
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quite well after a couple of days of losses as you can see the european stock markets rising to the tune of about 1.1% for the dax. ftse 100 up .5%. and the smi and the cac 40 up by three quarters of 1%. standard & poor's has cut portugal's debt rating to a gain on tuesday one notch above junk status. that, in turn, raised portugal's credit insurance costs making it that much tougher for the economically weak country to pull itself out of the current debt crisis. s&p also cut ratings yet again to a double b minus status. greece's debt is classed as junk. s&p said that the credit outlook for both nations is negative. here in asia, the nikkei reverlsed several days of losses to become the region's top performer on wednesday. japanese exporters got a boost from a weaker yen today, but tokyo electric power shares continued to take a beating. thach closed down almost 18% for
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a third straight day. and they're down more than 71% for the year so far. now around the rest of the region, mining and metals companies help to lift australia's main benchmark there. and bhp billiton and rio tinto gained 2% by the close. also property stocks were the winner in hong kong after some positive earnings reports. and one of those came from this company, hutchison wampoa. shares of hong kong-based property and telephone company hutchison whampoa climbed 5% after the firm reported stellar full-year earnings. the company head and hong kong's richest man said its profits jumped 47% in 2010 far exceeding expectations. that was thanks in part to a strong turnaround in the 3g telecoms business. we turn to wall street where
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u.s. investors shrugged off ongoing global surge on tuesday's session. the main indices finished near intra day highs thanks to solid gains in telekom and retail stocks. this is how the numbers settled down at the end of the session. the dow and the s&p 500 climbed around .7%. and the nasdaq added close to 1%. the s&p 500 also up as well. i just mentioned that. bp shares fell almost 3% after the stock was downgraded. also on tuesday, reports surfaced that federal prosecutors are considering charging company managers with manslaughter in connection with the company disasters in the gulf of mexico. well, in the long term, world energy markets will no doubt be affected by public perceptions of nuclear energy. and even at times like this, some people are sticking up for nuclear power.
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scientists in oxford say it's the safest way to get that energy. if that doesn't convince you, what about the prospect of a bigger energy bill? we have more. it took hours after japan's tsunami for nuclear power to become a sensitive topic once again. >> we don't know what the overall impact will be on nuclear energy. it can't be good. >> about 14% of the world's electricity is generated through nuclear power. it's the main source of electricity in france where 58 reactors supplied 75% of the country's power. the united states gets 20% of its electricity from 104 reactors while japan got 29% from 54 reactors before the disaster. here in the uk, 19 nuclear reactors generate 18% of the energy mix. on tuesday, oxford university released a report calling for new nuclear generators to be run on recycled nuclear fuel.
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>> a very simple way to get rid of the plutonium is to use it as a fuel in power plants, generate electricity, charge the utilities for the fuel, and make money for the public person instead of just spending it. >> many groups, including the world future council, call for a complete phaseout of nuclear power. quote, nuclear power is neither the answer to modern energy problems nor a panacea for climate change challenges. so, what would replace nuclear? environmentalists argue investing money in renewables instead of nuclear. many analysts say natural gas is the answer. using the uk as an example, uk government data reveals natural gas took over nuclear and comb just before the millennium. so if nuclear is out of the picture, it's conceivable that natural gas would have to pick up the slack, in japan too.
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>> japan has a dozen nuclear plants planned for the coming years. if this accident results in a significant delay or cancellation of all of that or much of that capacity, they're going to have to look elsewhere for it. and natural gas is the obvious immediate fuel to turn to. >> natural gas prices for delivery to the uk rose within hours of the japanese tsunami as it was clear countries like russia and qatar would transmit more liquefied natural gas or lng to japan. european consumers have suffer in the recent past when russia had payment disputes with its neighbors, causing short term supply shortages. and extracting natural gas takes exploration companies into ever more expensive and risky territories. jim bolden, cnn, london. most of the world's top container shipping companies have resumed their routes to ports in japan.
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the u.n.'s maritime agency said there's no reason to skip it for now. the exception is the zone around the fukushima daiichi power plant. the quake's ripple effects continue to hit industries around the world, for example, a shortage of auto parts is leaving toyota dealers in the dark in japan. suppliers in japan are struggling to get up and running, nina? >> deadly flooding is gripping parts of malaysia and thailand. for that, we go to jennifer delgado joining us now on the international weather center. good day to you, jennifer. what do you have for us. >> the flooding situation, really a sad one across parts of thailand. we picked up their monthly average 15 times above average for this time of the year. certainly the rain has been coming down. as i showd you in the satellite images, you see enflairment out of that. you can see there in the red,
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heavier rainfall coming down. show you what it looks like, talking millions of dollars in damage. trucks going through flooded roadways, electricity is out, communication is down, flights have been cancelled off and on for the next several days in parts of thailand. and 11 people have died. 76,000 people have been displaced from the heavy rainfall that's been happening since friday as well as saturday over the weekend. that man walking through. water up to his shoulders. certainly a sad situation across parts of thailand. as i take you back over, look at the totals. in the last 24 hours, impressive. 413 millimeters of rainfall. it's where you see it in green. it's the peninsula. the rain is coming down. for one region, the rainfall totals are coming up 2.8 feet since saturday. look at that, 855 millimeters of rainfall.
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they should see 51 millimeters for march. well above average. what's in the forecast for today? scattered showers. but the heaviest rain is behind thailand and that system is going to be moving over to the west. we're going to get some of the wind flow to help move it out of the area. that's going to be beneficial. but the problem is, it's going to take several weeks for all of the rainwater to recede across parts of thailand. it's hitting the northern parts of ma latz yeah as -- malaysia as well. thank you, jennifer delgado. >> up next, bidding farewell to a boss. one of the bosses of the weekly series is leaving the corner office. a look back at what we've learned from him. do stay with us as we con after this break.
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hello. welcome to "world business today". if you're at the top of the tree in your company, you're the boss, right? so when the try shakes, you fall
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the farthest. and that's what happened to one of our bosses, richard braddock, who was ceo of fresh direct. earlier this month, the british supermarket chain announced it's taking a 10% stake in fresh direct to more than $50 million. that same day, we received a statement containing the following announcement. richard braddock is no longer with the company. we wondered what happened there. we reached out to fresh direct to get a statement or indeed an interview with richard and the company declined. so, today, we take a look back at our time with richard braddock, the boss. for more than six months, richard braddock allowed us inside his wardrobe, opened his doors to his business strategy. >> being ready is not simply being open for business. >> and shared his insight. >> as a manager, i believe you're as good as your people.
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>> in this week's episode, we say good-bye to the former ceo of fresh direct as we remember this time as "the boss." from the day our cameras started rolling, richard braddock was there. >> good morning. how are you all? >> from days to weeks to months, richard discussed with us the growing pains for fresh direct. >> i don't want to come off as presenting myself as a miracle worker. but we were pretty close to being out of business. >> the problems the company faced when he joined in its early days. >> we didn't have a lot of cash around in those days. we turned a lot of customers and our services is, i can say now, was atrocious. there's no point in bringing in kuls hers and kicking them in the teeth. >> to turn the company around, he took the risk. and stopped signing up new customers until fresh direct
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could prove its operations. it wasn't an easy move. >> took a lot of energy, not just by me. but once people saw that things could improve and they could influence that, then it became a bit more infectious. >> with money now entering the business, richard was able to innovate. >> we get to choose better quality ingredients to begin with. >> he introduced the formative meal. >> why doesn't someone hold up the before and after package? >> the frozen meal. >> what can we say about tastes like fresh. >> and a kid's meal. >> it's about today any way you slice it. >> outside of the board room, fresh direct was up and moving as well. expanding to 29 communities. >> we're heading to expansion markets to demonstrate we can do this, not just in new york. >> then, all changed. fresh direct received an
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investment from morrison's, a uk supermarket. richard braddock was out at fresh direct. he was no longer the boss. cnn asked fresh direct several times for an explanation. we wanted to know the reason for his dramatic departure. but all we got was this statement. the board of directors recognizes that the growth of fresh direct's business in the future and the success of realizing the full potential requires a full-time chief executive officer. as such, richard braddock is no longer with the company. so what have we learned from richard braddock as "the boss". >> ready to work for the day? >> he was a ceo with a common purpose. he led from the front. yet he knew he couldn't do it on his own. >> you're doing great. >> when you ask your people to think every day about how to make the business better, you create a mindset that says, in fact, i can make it better.
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then through the process of them seeing that the things they try actually work on a short-term basis, you create a lot of confidence. >> he shared his vision for the company and knew what was required to get there. >> managing growth requires intensity and i think forcing companies out of what i call the traditional cultural patterns. all right, all of the gray hair i'm covering up. >> above all, richard showed us success calls for energy and strategic thinking. >> you can't change wout taking risks. you can't grow wout taking risks. you're dealing with some degree of uncertainty. getting people to believe that with that uncertainty exists it opportunity to be created. >> six months on since our first meeting, we said good-bye to richard braddock. but the no-nonsense business philosophy of the seasoned turnaround expert will be remembered by all those he worked with.
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>> the ceo can be a lonely place. that usually happens when your business isn't doing too well. or it can be a very happy place, and that happens when your business is doing well. so right now, with our business growing at 25%, i'm pretty happy to be a ceo. next week on "the boss" oorks. >> are you a brewer or a businessman? >> a brewer must be a businessman or he won't be a brewer for long. >> meet steve hindi -- the president of the brooklyn brewery and our brand new boss. his mission? to put new york on the map once again as a home for quality beer. just ahead on "world business today," an event that's shutting down markets and bringing businesses in south asia to a halt. he's got bats and woulders and
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it's a big event between two suspicious neighbors. that's coming up next on "world business today."
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welcome back. live from cnn hong kong in london, this is "world business today". in many parts of the world, cricket is far more than just a sport. this afternoon, india and pakistan will face off on the pitch. we're joined now by malaka and from pakistan to tell us why this afternoon's match is more than just a matter of sport. we'll start with you. i hear that the stock market and businesses are closing early for this? >> oh, yes. the businesses are closing early today. and they might -- you know, really, no one is going to be at work. there no one is going to be concentrating on work today. this is such a huge match for the subcontinent. the excitement is so palpable.
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businesses are predicting there will be a high level of absen e absenteei absenteeism. they've decided to shut their offices and allow people to go home early. some businesses have said, bring your families, serve your tea and snacks. we put up the giant screens here. come, have a party in the office. so really few people will be doing work this afternoon in india. once the businesses have shut down, it's interesting to see the number of businesses that have actually experienced a little bit of a boom in the last couple of days. hotels here are completely packed. many local residents, they're opening up their homes and accommodating bed and breakfasts and little guest houses to accommodate all of the people who are coming in, many airlines like king fisher airlines have added flights. right here close to the stadium, the atmosphere here is fantastic. people are selling flags and people are making money doing face painting. so it goes both ways.
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business are shutting down for the afternoon, but many businesses are doing really well. and let's get the atmosphere now in a sense of what it's like across the border in pakistan, for that, let's go to karachi. nick? well, two-countries piece-by-piece. very similar atmosphere here. we have a city more or less shut down. we're driving through it, television screens, undershaded coverings of the people on the street to watch this crucial match. the prime minister declared shutting the country down. he has himself gone to northern india to watch the government and much of his cabinet going with him. persuading to do that. we're going to see a country of $117 million people sitting here with the expectations on the shoulders of their team. a lot of pressure is put upon the captain nicknamed boom-boom
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because of the breakneck speed at which he's run up centuries in the past. often people say here that pakistan considered themselves beyond adult. india being a favorite. after that, he thinks that would liberate him to do their best in the particular match. but we're looking to see in the next few hours this match passed smoothly. pakistan blighted over the past few months. militancy, a broken economy, a more recently the floods. and i think people here would like to see this match pause happily and smoothly. but also look for a clean victory against india. paw lie pauli pauline? >> that's nate in pakistan. and from india, the india-pakistani cricket match today. the mumbai stock exchange, the karachi stock exchange both closed early today. folks can go see this match. the traders have to keep chugging along today. >> they do indeed.
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let's look at how european -- excuse me -- let's look at how european markets stand at the moment. as you can see, we've rrently got the dax up by 1.2%. cac 40 up by .33%. also some gains coming there from the smi in zurich. and the ftse 100 very much underpinned by strong metals and miners such as bhp billiton, pauline. how the asian markets have done so far on the wednesday session. the nikkei was up by more than 2.5%. it did quite well reversing a few days of losses. the hang seng up by 1.75%. the hang seng down a fraction. and the main aussie benchmark up by 1.5%. that's it for this edition of world business today. that's for joining us. i'm pauline chu in hong kong. >> i'm nina desantos. "world one" is next.
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